Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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where have you gone? Kevin Griffith, 1978-82 Defensive End The Academic All-American passed on the NFL to become a lawyer after playing at Notre Dame By Dan Murphy T hirty-one years ago Notre Dame's team buses rolled back down the campus's main drag during the first week of November after knocking off No. 1 Pittsburgh on the road. Students poured onto the street and blocked the team's path — banging on the sides of the buses, poking their heads through the windows and eventually climbing on top to celebrate the upset victory. "We were sitting in the buses just looking at each other, and they were banging on the tops until the roofs started to dent," said Kevin Griffith, who was the star fifth-year senior defensive end at the time. "This was wild. It took us quite some time to get down Notre Dame Avenue." Hours earlier Griffith remembers head coach Gerry Faust inviting a longtime Notre Dame fan suffering from cerebral palsy into the locker room to accept the game ball from the team. An hour before that, Griffith and his teammates were putting the finishing touches on a 31-16 win over quarterback Dan Marino and the rest of a Panthers offense replete with future Griffith was offered a scholarship to Notre Dame on the night before National Signing Day in February 1978, considered his new option and then called the coaches at the University of Virginia to decommit. photo courtesy notre dame media relations NFL talent. Those are the types of memories football provided for Griffith, and that was enough for him. A month later he played his last snap at Notre Dame